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Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
  • TDA to Schwab Transfers
    Make sure you're looking at the summary and not the existing account (which didn't change). The new accounts should show up there, I believe. I couldn't find the originally either
    Btw, for those involved, if you had the $15 trading fees originally from ThinkOrSwim, I was assured that they would carry over onto the Schwab platform. I can't verify that just yet, but something to watch for/
  • ORK? WTF. Transaction, TRP. (Got an answer.)
    A couple of dividends showed up on 31 May. One was the domestic Postal REIT. PSTL. As instructed, TRP reinvested the dividend to buy more shares. Smooth and transparent.
    On the NHYDY dividend, I'm left to worry and guess at what they did. NHYDY = Norsk Hydro ADR. First thing I see is the amount of the dividend. $145.56. NEXT, I see the FIVE PERCENT fee that was taken from that amount: $7.28. (foreign company.) Then I looked to confirm that the remainder of $138.28 was reinvested. But only $101.89 was reinvested. Where did these doinks hide or lose or steal the rest of it? $36.39 is just plain missing.
    This licks pus, I tell you.
  • Is Berkshire more like a Mutual Fund than a stock?
    Several past posts:
    1) "MSF describes it—blend—a blue chip stock with its heady growth days in the past.
    "Agree with msf and Lewis assessment. The fast growing business (iPhones, computers, music, and AppleTV) since Steve Jobs's returned has plateaued. In some area Apple is trailing."
    2) "Growth is about revenues, cash flow and earnings versus the benchmark and industry peers and it’s forward looking, not from five or ten years ago."
    FD: Reality check, after close to 3 years, Apple proved to be MORE THAN JUST A BLEND BLUE CHIP
    One year performance......AAPL +12.3....VFINX -6.6%......JPM -23.7%
    Three year performance...AAPL +49.65...VFINX +14.9%...JPM +6.1%
    In just 3 years AAPL made 174% more than VFINX(SP500)....221.8 vs 47.8%...see (chart)
    Checking again, several posters claimed that Apple is just another blue chip + its heady growth days in the past.
    Apple still beat SPY for 1,3,5,10,15 years. See the chart for one year (https://schrts.co/FgWjnDmE) Apple made 4+ times more.
  • Vanguard US Growth & Growth and Income - Subadvisor Change
    If Vanguard hires a single subadvisor for, say, 0.50%, and that subadvisor has its own branded funds that it charges 1% for, what is the motivation for investors to buy any of the subadvisor's higher-cost branded funds? A single sub-advisor Vanguard fund runs the risk of cannibalizing that sub-advisor's external business. ...
    Wellington and Primecap are interesting exceptions, but then Primecap only opened its branded funds when Vanguard closed its Primecap subadvised ones to new investors, so there was less risk of cannibalization. Meanwhile, Wellington has been with Vanguard since its founding, and the relationship there is a unique and enduring one.

    Does Wellington have its own branded funds? It doesn't seem to fit this pattern.
    Primecap (VPMCX) opened and closed at various times. If Primecap was waiting until the Vanguard funds closed, it looks like the third time was the charm.
    In 1994, its minimum was $3,000 (or $10,000; the prospectus is gives both figures). March 7, 1995, Vanguard closed the fund and limited additional investments to $25K/year. On Jan 1, 1996, Vanguard unambiguously reduced the minimum to $3K, were fund were to reopen. On Oct 31, 1996, the fund did reopen. The fund was closed again on April 22, 1998, with a $25K/year limit on additional investments. On April 23, 2001, the fund once again reopened, but this time with a $25K minimum and a 1% redemption fee for shares redeemed within five years of purchase. Finally, several months after Vanguard closed the fund again on March 4, 2004, Primecap Odyssey launched its funds in November 2004.
    The initial management fee of 0.60% was slightly higher than the Vanguard management fee at the time of 0.48%. Though counterbalancing that relatively slight difference was the five year redemption fee that Vanguard imposed and Primecap Odyssey did not.
    An exception that may prove the rule is Vanguard Global Environmental Opportunities Fund (VEOIX). It began Nov 22, 2022, a bit more than a year after the management firm, Ninety One, started it own fund, Global Environment Fund ZGEIX.
    Yogi may be right about a new company looking to grow AUM, even if it has to give up 20 basis points in fees. Though if that were its objective, Vanguard hasn't been too successful at that. Each fund has only about $40M AUM, and looking at the Vanguard fund, half of its AUM came at launch (seed money?).
  • The Case For International Diversification
    I noticed Vanguard is also projecting better returns from unhedged 'Ex-U.S. Developed' equities over the next decade ( https://www.morningstar.com/markets/markets-brief-why-vanguard-sees-brighter-outlook-investors-portfolios).
    image
  • Fund Allocations (Cumulative), 04/30/23
    Fund Allocations (Cumulative), 04/30/23
    There were tiny increases in stock allocations. The changes for OEFs + ETFs were based on a total AUM of about $30.29 trillion in the previous month, so +/- 1% change was about +/- $302.9 billion. Also note that these changes were from both fund inflows/outflows & price changes. #Funds #OEFs #ETFs #ICI
    OEFs & ETFs: Stocks 57.99%, Hybrids 5.10%, Bonds 19.71%, M-Mkt 17.20%
    https://ybbpersonalfinance.proboards.com/post/1049/thread
  • What happened to CCOR?
    If I had to guess (which really is all that I am doing) I'd say that it is a combination of not owning enough of the top 5-8 market moving momentum equities + the downdraft being experienced by dividend paying stocks + their derivative strategy(ies) are not positioned correctly for the current market sentiment whatever that is.
    That's probably not really helpful but when I looked at the fact sheet for the fund I can't tell what index they are tracking unless it's one they came up with in-house and their derivative strategy is listed merely as proprietary.
  • Vanguard US Growth & Growth and Income - Subadvisor Change
    Yogibearbull largely has the subadvisor model correct here. If Vanguard hires a single subadvisor for, say, 0.50%, and that subadvisor has its own branded funds that it charges 1% for, what is the motivation for investors to buy any of the subadvisor's higher-cost branded funds? A single sub-advisor Vanguard fund runs the risk of cannibalizing that sub-advisor's external business. But a multi-advisor fund will be different and therefore there is less risk of cannibalization. Vanguard can play the subs off against each other on cost. Wellington and Primecap are interesting exceptions, but then Primecap only opened its branded funds when Vanguard closed its Primecap subadvised ones to new investors, so there was less risk of cannibalization. Meanwhile, Wellington has been with Vanguard since its founding, and the relationship there is a unique and enduring one. Wellington originally fired John Bogle, motivating him to found Vanguard.
  • Vanguard US Growth & Growth and Income - Subadvisor Change
    A fund's board is responsible for hiring the fund's advisor(s). It may be a distinction without a difference, but at Harbor, a board hires the fund's advisor, which in turn hires the subadvisors. In contrast, at Vanguard a board hires multiple advisors directly. There are no subs.
    Harbor Capital Advisors, Inc. (“Harbor Capital” or the “Advisor”) is the investment adviser to Harbor Funds. ...
    The Advisor may manage funds directly or employ a “manager-of-managers” approach in selecting and overseeing investment subadvisers (each, a “Subadvisor”). The Advisor makes day-to-day investment decisions with respect to each fund that it directly manages. In the case of subadvised funds, the Advisor evaluates and allocates each Harbor fund’s assets to one or more Subadvisors. For Harbor funds that employ one or more discretionary subadvisors, the Subadvisors are responsible for the day-to-day management of the assets of the Harbor funds allocated to them.
    Harbor Prospectus
    For funds that are advised by independent third-party advisory firms unaffiliated with Vanguard, the board of trustees of each fund hires investment advisory firms, not individual portfolio managers, ...
    ... the [third-party] advisor manages the investment and reinvestment of the portion of the fund’s assets that the fund’s board of trustees determines to assign to the advisor. In this capacity, each advisor continuously reviews, supervises, and administers the fund’s investment program for its portion of the fund’s assets. ... Each advisor discharges its responsibilities subject to the supervision and oversight of Vanguard’s Portfolio Review Department and the officers and trustees of the fund. Vanguard’s Portfolio Review Department is responsible for recommending changes in a fund’s advisory arrangements to the fund’s board of trustees, including changes in the amount of assets allocated to each advisor and recommendations to hire, terminate, or replace an advisor.
    Vanguard® World Fund SAI (including U.S. Growth and some other funds)
  • These were the 15 biggest active funds 10 years ago. Where are they now?
    Interesting the many American Funds significantly increased their AUM over the decade. (I've held several of them in moderately-large positions since 2005)
  • Vanguard US Growth & Growth and Income - Subadvisor Change
    The Vanguard Quantitative Equity Group will still manage (partially or entirely) 5 active funds.
    Link
    I agree with @Sven that sometimes there are "too many cooks in the kitchen."
    Vanguard had 10 active funds with 3 or more subadvisors as of 03/31/2023.
    Link
    Excluding Vanguard (Fixed Income Group and Quantitative Equity Group),
    these are the only firms which manage 100% of any active Vanguard funds:
    Wellington Management, Primecap Management, Baillie Gifford Overseas,
    and Ninety One North America (newer ESG fund).
  • The Case For International Diversification
    Good comparison. Someone posted here that DIVI, Franklin International Core Dividend Tilt Index, which also has a comparable 5 year performance record with respect to annual returns, drawdown and Martin ratio (obtained from MFO Premium).
  • The Case For International Diversification
    @BenWP,
    IHDG has performed well since inception.
    I used Portfolio Visualizer and compared IHDG to three other international funds.
    The WisdomTree fund had the highest return, lowest volatility,
    and lowest max. drawdown for the period from June 2014 - April 2023.
    Link
  • Vanguard International Core Stock - Kenneth Abrams retirement
    "Effective immediately, Anna Lundén has been added as a co-portfolio manager of Vanguard International Core Stock Fund (the Fund). Additionally, Kenneth L. Abrams will retire from Wellington Management Company LLP
    on or about June 30, 2024, at which time he will no longer serve as a co-portfolio manager of the Fund.
    F. Halsey Morris will continue to co-manage the Fund."

    "The Fund’s investment objective, strategies, and policies remain unchanged."
    Link
  • Vanguard US Growth & Growth and Income - Subadvisor Change
    "Vanguard has dropped its quantitative equity team as a subadvisor on the $34.4bn Vanguard US Growth fund and $11.5bn Vanguard Growth and Income fund."
    "On the US Growth fund, no new subadvisor has been added alongside Baillie Gifford, Jennison Associates
    and Wellington Management Company, but the latter firm will now run more of the fund’s assets
    as a result of Vanguard removing itself."

    "Wellington has also been added as a subadvisor on the Growth and Income fund, joining existing subadvisors D.E. Shaw Investment Management and Los Angeles Capital Management."
    Link
  • These were the 15 biggest active funds 10 years ago. Where are they now?
    "The S&P 500 has posted an annualized 12.2% return through April, a figure that includes last year’s 18.11% selloff, while the Agg returned an annualized 1.32% for the period, again, including 2022’s 13.01% swoon."
    "Many an active manager has struggled to match these returns and investors have voted with their wallets, pulling trillions of dollars out of active funds and pouring them into passively run funds and ETFs. From 2013 through 2022, active mutual funds and ETFs had outflows of $1.5tn, while passive vehicles took in $5.1tn."
    Hopefully, the article linked below is accessible without a CityWire account...
    Link
  • BlackRock Total Factor Fund to be liquidated
    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/844779/000119312523155494/d496198d497.htm
    497 1 d496198d497.htm BLACKROCK TOTAL FACTOR FUND
    BLACKROCK FUNDSSM
    BlackRock Total Factor Fund
    Supplement dated May 26, 2023 to the
    Summary Prospectuses, Prospectuses and Statement of Additional Information of the Fund,
    each dated November 28, 2022
    On May 23, 2023, the Board of Trustees of BlackRock FundsSM (the “Trust”), on behalf of its series, BlackRock Total Factor Fund (the “Fund”), approved a proposal to close the Fund to new and subsequent investments and thereafter to liquidate the Fund. Accordingly, effective 4:00 p.m. (Eastern time) on September 22, 2023, the Fund will no longer accept orders from new investors or existing shareholders to purchase Fund shares. On or about September 29, 2023 (the “Liquidation Date”), all of the assets of the Fund will have been liquidated completely, the shares of any shareholders holding shares on the Liquidation Date will be redeemed at the net asset value per share and the Fund will then be terminated as a series of the Trust. Shareholders may redeem their Fund shares or exchange their shares into shares of another mutual fund advised by BlackRock Advisors, LLC or its affiliates at any time prior to the Liquidation Date. In preparation for the liquidation, the Fund may deviate from its investment objective and principal investment strategies.
    Shareholders should consult their personal tax advisers concerning their tax situation and the impact of the liquidation and/or exchanging to a different fund on their tax situation.
    Shareholders should retain this Supplement for future reference.
    PR2SAI-TFF-0523SUP